Nqwebasaurus was named by paleontologists/geologists Billy J. de Klerk, C. A. Forster, S. Sampson, A. Chinsamy, and Callum F. Ross in 2000. The type species is N. thwazi. This is the first dinosaur with a click sound in its name. Nqwebasaurus thwazi (pronounced n-KWE-bah-SAWR-us TWAH-zee - to pronounce the q, pull your tongue off the roof of your mouth to produce a click on the 'q'). Nqwebasaurus means 'Nqweba lizard' - Nqweba is the Xhosa [a language similar to Zulu that is spoken by the Bantu peoples of Africa] name for the Magisterial District of Kirkwood, where this dinosaur was found. Kirkwood is a small citrus farming village in the Sundays River valley about 30 miles (50 km) north of the coastal city of Port Elizabeth. Thwazi is an old Xhosa word for a fast-running messenger (an almost mythical meaning, according to Billy de Klerk, who named Nqwebasaurus).

RELATED LINKS
An Nqwebasaurus fact sheet with a printable version

The meat-eating dinosaurs, the theropods.

Creatures and climate of the Cretaceous period.

Other fossils found in Africa.